Cahela

Cahela
Female
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pyralidae
Subfamily: Phycitinae
Genus: Cahela
Heinrich, 1939
Species:
C. ponderosella
Binomial name
Cahela ponderosella
(Barnes & McDunnough, 1918)
Synonyms
  • Olyca ponderosella Barnes & McDunnough, 1918
  • Cactobrosis interstitialis Dyar, 1925
  • Cactobrosis pheonicis Dyar, 1925
  • Zophodia purgatoria Dyar, 1925
  • Cactobrosis (?) ponderosella Dyar, 1928

Cahela is a monotypic snout moth genus described by Carl Heinrich in 1939. Its only species, Cahela ponderosella, the cahela moth, described by William Barnes and James Halliday McDunnough in 1918, is found in Mexico and in the US states of California, Texas, Arizona, Utah and probably Nevada.

Adults are on wing from March to June.

The larvae feed on the stems of Cylindropuntia species.